Beast listened, and was surprised by Vazi's sudden, gentle touch. Relief flooded through him, and it was an oh-so-sweet feeling, the best flood of joy he'd had all day. It meant that the violence wasn't coming--or was it? Right on the heels of relief, worry gripped him, and he glanced up again--but no, Vazi seemed calm, speaking almost softly, and the relief crept back in. He looked down at the bright blue pinpoints of color below. He was to eat them...? But they tasted... terrible. He looked uncertainly up at Vazi, then back down again... and debated within himself. Did he argue it...? Did he try to force himself to eat them, anyway? What if they were poison? Maybe Vazi intended to teach him by poisoning him, so he'd never try it again... But another glance at Vazi, and he decided to risk it, rather than face the stag's wrath. Slowly, Beast lowered his belly to the ground, and began to eat the berries, slowly, one at a time. By the third his grimace was apparent; by the fifth, his eyes were squeezed shut. After the sixth he stopped, hungry as he was, and let out a soft mewl. Again he had to search for the words, but they didn't seem too far away, this time. "Taste. Bad," he tried to explain, wincing. Was this food...? Was this what was meant to assuage the burning in his gut? He didn't like it, not one bit. He looked back up at Vazi, grimacing, hoping there was another way. ______________

@Hasira

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

Vazi watched unblinking as the cub ate the berries. He studied him closely, eyes narrowing with each bite. He was annoyed at the slowness and he began to paw at the ground in irritation, his antlers lowered ever so slightly. Impatiently.

Then, that mewl and he nearly lost it. "No, mewling! Bad!" Simple words. They worked better. He yelled and his hoof lifted but it lowered again. Wait. See. Patient. The cub looked to him and spoke. Bad? Vazi's gem glowed red and he bellowed, wordlessly, angrily at the cub. "How dare you? I let you eat you ungrateful carnivore and now you say they are bad! Well, tough luck because if you do not eat them then you will get nothing else for two days!" Not simple words. He wouldn't understand.

He stomped an angry hoof in the dirt and barked, "Eat berries or go hungry!"

---

words: 194
tagged: @Beast
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Just like that, the stag was angry again. His gem was flaring an angry red, his voice raised and his hooves stomping. Beast cowered down, barely hearing Vazi's tirade as he quickly covered the berries with his large paws, sweeping them closer. He let out a soft yowl of fear, staring down. A rising panic began to grip him. Eat them? But they're terrible. But he's angry. But I'll die. Fear ripped through him, making him shiver--in his mind, if it tasted bad, then obviously it might kill him. As he squeezed his eyes shut, his desperation and the fight-or-flight rush of adrenaline left his mind rushing with the roar of blood pumping through his skull, his vision graying. His horns began to glow. A faint tingle began somewhere in his skull, his terror tugging on something primal that he hadn't been aware of before--like some other sense. He wasn't sure what it was doing, only that it was focused on the berries, and so he quickly pulled his paws away--and the glow faded. One or two of the berries, however, was shimmering with a light that hadn't been there before--and in his terror that he'd done something even further wrong, and an instant instinct to hide the evidence, Beast quickly snatched these up and ate them. ______________

@Hasira

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

His scare tactic worked and sent the lion into a panic. However, panic wasn't good enough. He wanted results. He pawed at the ground, impatient when the berries weren't disappearing into the cub's mouth. "So help me if you do not--" The cub's paws lifted and he quickly ate the fruit. Hasira's eyes blinked in confusion for a moment. Had it been a trick of the light? Or had those berries been... glowing? He peered keenly at the cub before snorting and tossing his antlers.

He gestured to the bush with his tines. "Berries, pick." He lowered his head down and snapped off a few branches and placed them on the ground in a neat stack. "See? Pick, berries. Put in pile." He pointed with his nose and gave a nod for the cub to take his turn.

---

words: 194
tagged: @Beast
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Beast watched Vazi, watched him stamp his hoof, watched him pick a branch of berries. His terror abated only slightly as he watched, his heart racing, the nasty tang of berry juice still stinging his tongue. Something twitched within him as he watched Vazi snap the branches away. Killing them. Hurting them. Hurting them, like he hurts me. Suddenly Beast was struck--and hard--with a feeling he'd never felt before: pity. He pitied the plant, felt bad for it being broken and torn as the stag apparently took his anger out on it--and now he wanted Beast to do the same...? The little white lion cub sank in on himself, ears going back, staring at the bush with wide eyes. He glanced uneasily at Vazi, started to search for the words to ask why he had to hurt the berry-branches, but the stag was staring at him sternly. Beast turned his gaze back to the bush, and slowly, reluctantly, snapped one branch away in his teeth and carried it to the pile. Then he went back to the bush, as if to take another--but paused, eyeing the one he'd broken away. It was bleeding--like he was bleeding--only its blood was pale and translucent, the sap dripping down the branch as he watched. I should fix it. I need to fix it. Frantic with the idea that the branch was in pain, the cub lifted one broad white paw and pulled the branch down slightly, toward his nose, sniffing at it. He wasn't sure what he planned to do--only that he needed to fix it. This time, when his moonstone horns shimmered, his pale eyes did too--like pale pastel lights on a mirror. And so did the branch, glowing ever-so-faintly, twitching with new life. The tiniest of green shoots, barely visible, sprouted as new life from the broken end, and Beast released it and stepped back with a strange and warming sense of satisfaction blooming within. He looked at Vazi, working to explain, eyes wide and earnest. "No... more... hurt. I fix." Then he looked back at the tiny sprout again, seeming almost to smile. ______________

@Hasira

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

So slow, so irritating! Why was he just staring at the stupid bush like an idiot!? He'd explained and he'd even given a demonstration! He snorted at the cub, a warning, hurry up or there would be consequences. He watched impatiently as the cub began to pluck twigs from the bush just as he had but then on the next go round he paused. "What are you doing?" He said sharply as he stepped forward and stared down at the thing. His horns were glowing, shimmering, as was the bush. The stag had been irritated but now he was curious. Just what was this fluffball doing?

He wasn't waiting long for the magic took effect and where there had been a broken branch was now a healed one! The stag blinked, impressed for a moment before he scowled at the cub's words. "You will 'hurt' them if I tell you too, cub!" He growled but with the glimmer in his eye it was easy to see that he was still impressed. "However... Your powers are useful so now you will pick berries and grow them! Understand? Heal, grow, and pick them. That is your job, boy."

---

words: 196
tagged: @Beast
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Beast cringed just a little at Vazi's tone, flinching as the stag snorted irritably at him. Then he was threatening him, and drawing closer, and Beast looked up at him. But I don't want to hurt them... he thought to himself. He listened as Vazi spoke again, eyes wide. Grow? Heal? ...I can do that... A sudden, unexpected surge of warmth struck him, and he bounced a little, joyous, as the stag assigned him his task--his chore, his purpose. Somehow, the idea of healing and growing things pleased him, filled him with happiness, even if brief. So far he'd known only pain, fear, and being able to fill his life with the opposite of that had a draw that he, in his youth, could never understand. But he could still feel it. "Okay!" he agreed aloud, practically chirping the word. Without thinking, Beast--in a sudden spurt of gratitude--leapt up, leaning to try and give Vazi a friendly lick on the nose. ______________

@Hasira

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

For once the cub seemed enthusiastic about his duties. Bouncing up and down with eyes glittering with that childlike joy. Vazi rolled his eyes but said nothing, so long as he wasn't touching him then the stag cared not for what foolish things he did. "Good! Collect berries. Leave them by the throne." He started to turn and walk away but then the cub leaped up and attempted to put his filthy tongue on him.

The stag leaned backwards in disgust and without even thinking he lashed out with a hoof. He didn't know where he was aiming but anywhere would work. He wanted that filthy thing to hurt for daring to touch him! When he did good he would reward but when he was bad then the pain would come. "You filthy rat! Do not ever try to put your disgusting tongue on me again! If I ever catch you trying to lick me or another herbivore I will cut your tongue off myself!" With a bellow he kicked dirt at the cub before tossing his antlers angrily and stalking away. "Remember! Pick berries, collect them, put them by the throne! Get to work!" With that he left to go conduct his own business.

---

words: 205
tagged: @Beast
ooc: exit?
muse: 6/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

He went from joyous to agonized in an instant, the lashing hoof catching him in the gut and sending him sprawling backward with a bleating squeal of pain. He landed hard, half on his stomach, half on his side, and facing away from Vazi. The blood that streaked his white coat beginning to leak again, just a little, and for a moment he simply lay there, dazed, a red-stained mound of motionless white fur. He heaved, trying to catch his breath; all that came out were gasping, wheezing, choked cries. The wind had been knocked out of him, and his head was spinning from impacting the stone, and so for awhile he simply lay there. He thought that Vazi had left, but he wasn't sure. He just lay there, and for once he felt wounded emotionally, more than physically, though he had no words for this. I just wanted to do what he wanted. I was just happy. When he heard the stag chastising him, he didn't bother moving. He just listened, morose and defeated, closing his eyes. Once Vazi had left, then he'd get up, and slowly begin his assigned tasks. Just... without that forbidden happiness. ______________

((Exit Beast ?? @Hasira ))